SOME ACCOUNT OF THE GREEN STONE COUNTRY IN THE MIDDLE

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 1, Issue 22, 25 October 1849, Page 3

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE GREEN STONE COUNTRY IN THE MIDDLE

ISLAND.—(Concluded ) The Poenamu slub is sawn roughly into the shape of the Meri with the edge of a piece of Miea slate which is worked backwards and forwards until n groove is formed of about lialfan inch in depth, tin: Poenamu and slate being kept nviitened with water. The slab chosen for the mci i, H generally nhout an inch and a half in thickness, und on the grooves being woik"<l to tlio depth I have, mentioned the stone will break evenly. The pieces broken off are generally of a convenient shape for working into Whaknkai or car-pendants, which are made at leisure. The meri is polished by rubbing, still wot, with a piece of Arennccous limestone obtained from tin; Matniigi tawa did' in the neighbourhood. 11l order to burn the hole in the Inndlc of ■ lie Meii a piece of sharp Hint obtained at the l'ahutani rocks, abjut U> miles to the northward of Ar.t Hnrii, is set in n drill; the flintpoint being renewed from time to time as it In comes blunted against tlu: hnrd Greenstone. The drill is composed of a slick, in one end of which tli-i llint is set, placed through the centre ol a rircnl ir plate —the hardened inter* verteiir.il cartilage of the whale —and being similar in sli ipe to the toy that children make by in-i rtin;; n pin through the centre of a button. l'rom Hie upper end of the stick two string are dependant which twisted round ille slick, and then ijnickly distended impart a rotatory motion to the drill. From a conveniently shaped slab it will take a man about three months to make a meri; but the natives only work leisurely while so employed. Tlii! Ara Flurn is a very line country ; it is | level for about 40 miles along the coast with three line vallics. —the Mawhera Tara Makau and Ar.i Iluia extending back from '2O to CO miles respectively. The lirst of these rivers has water deep enough for canoes to a distance of 30 miles from die sea, above which distance it is broad bin shallow and rapid. The banks consist of fine grass and fern-covered land with occasional forests, the country around the other rivers is chiefly covered with heavy timber —the Knikatei, Totara and Rimu. This fine district unfortunately possesses no harbour, its sea-coast is exposed to the heavy swell that i« almost always rolling in before the nortli-west.-ily or south-we9tcrly gales. It is only in very line weather that even a wrl>-niau:igod whale boat can ofl'cct a lauding with safety. In the winter season great numbers of the wekn or wood lien and pigeons are obtained in the woods. In order to be preserved for summer use, the birds, having their h.oaes taken out are conked upon hot stone*, and then placed in a hag formed of the leaf of. the rimu or kelp sea-weed ; the extracted fat U poured over the (tird and the bag tied liglilitly. Eels are also plentiful in the summer season ; they are taken and preserved in the same manner, birds thus preserved in their congealed fat. if the air be carefully | excluded, will keep good for a period of two yearsor more. This country used to be famous for gTOundbirds, I mean the. kiwi, kakapo",■ and ivi ka, i.onc of which have their wings suflicicntly developed to enable tliem to riso from the ground in flight. The kakapo is n very beautiful (.roen and yellow parrot, very much larger tli in the kaka or any other known parrot, being 18 or 20 inches in length, and larger and heavier than the domestic fowl. The kakapo uer: formerly plentiful about ■ lie whole of tin: Ngahiluu country, but now are only vety r.i ely to be taken. The Wcka

s also becoming scarce in settled dsCiii-ts, and 1 lie Kiwi is now very rare. The increasing rarity of these birds has lieen thought to be caused by their destruction oy wild dogs •- it is more probable, however, that the rat is the animal that is most destructive to them all j the ground birds which I have mentioned, together with the now extinct moa, built their nests upon the ground, and as the Euiopean rat overrun the country, destruction of the eggs of those birds followed. The natives of the Greenstone settlements profess Christianity and follow the rites of the Church of England. Books have been sent to them, and their visitors have taught them to read, and explained to them something of tiie nature of religion; but their ideas connected with that subject are very-imperfect. The whole community appeared to be exceedingly healthy, their covering, in the absence of the blanket, being various kinds of mats, and perhaps in no part of New Zealand are finer Kaitaka and Paroivai to be met with. On the 4lh of June, 184 C, the writer and his party started from Tnra Makau, on tln ir return to the settlement of Nelson. With the greatest expedition at that season, in the depth of winter, the journey along the coast to the plantations at Taitapu would occupy 50 days j and for that period each one of the party carried on his back 90 lbs. weight of potatoes and dried fish—the latter article, however, forming only a small proportion of the stock. In addition to this weight, the spare clothing, instruments, and blankets carried mado the whole load upwards of 100 lbs. eich. The natives, who had shown

us the greatest possible hospitality during our fortnight's stay amongst them, made us a present of the provisions; they also—the whole tribe —accompanied ua during the first day's journey, and made a tangi over us upon leaving. The lieavy loads of potatoes had, in the course of about four days, to he reduced to to the more convenient weight of about 40lbs. each, for with more, the clilf and rock paths at To Miko and Potekohua could not be traversed. We had still with us 4lbs. of flour and of bacon kept as a reserved slock for any occasion of extremity. During the first twenty-five days* journey along the precipices which I have before described, three small potatoes were served out to each one per diem. Birds, snared in the low bushes, and shell-fish, procured on the reefs when the tide was out, formed the remainder of our means of subsistence: from the delays, however, which the procuring of these incurred, the supply was necessarily but ■canty. The journey to the Kauatiti was performed with comparative ease, but the detentions occasioned by the necessity of making rafts for crossing that and the other rivers, soon caused our stock of potatoes to be so much reduced that only one to each could be allowed per day. Birdsat this season were seldom to be met with, and as the party reached the Mokihinui and Karamea rivers, much privation from scarcity of food was suffered. At tho Karamea river, which was heavily flooded, wo were detained three days. By going out on the tide flats at night with torches wo managed to spear three patiki, or soles, on which we lived till the river subsided, and having at length effected its passage, half a pint of flour from our reserved stock was served out to .the patty. On the second day from Karamea we found a dead ling, or rather such part of it as the seagulls had not eaten. It had been thrown 11 jj by the surf apparently several days previously, but from the frostiness of tho weather it hud dried, but not decomposed. We ate the flesh, and reserved the head and bones in order to make soup on the following day. Our potatoes were now all consumed, and we had become so weak from the want of good food that we feared that we should not have sufficient strength to enable us to get past Toura te Weka rocky points or to ascend the prfcipices nt Tauparikakn. Between Iloliaihai and Wakopei heavy rains prevented our making /nuch progress* In the crevices of rock at low water we found the tori tori, or aea-iinemony, as is called a peculiar blubber which seems to form the Knk lietween animal and vegetable organization. We boiled the tori tori with the miko, or the inner

foldings of the leaf of the Kikau palm, and so made a soup on whit h we lived for several days. •At Wakapoi we caught an owl and some small singing birds, on which we made two very satisfactory .meals; and pressing on passed Taura te Weka, or Rocky Point, in

two days from the lastnamed place. We obBOiTed several seals during this time, but they were on the oft'-shore reef, where we could not get near them: we however found the remains of a eormorant, —llie rols had eaten nil the fleshy parts—of which wc made some soup. On the 49th day after leaving Tara Makau we ascended the 'l'auparikaka Clifl'. Tlie prospect of the ascent of this precipice had hung on our iniiida for many days previously :

it tries the nerve of a person in good health to pass along the ledges on its face, and we feared that in our then debilitated condition wo should fail when w« came there. Our loads were, however, now only a few pounds each, and we had acquired a degree of confidence from traversing, during the last four months, the steep country along which the track lay. We reached the top of the cliff safely, and on looking from its point on to the Taitapu country where, in a few days, wo could again obtain potatoes, we considered ourselves almost at home, although a distance of 102 miles was still before us ere we should reach the settlement.

Uetween the Taupariknka and the Kaurangi River we lived on some sea snails, and at th» lntier place we commenced the last half-pint of flour, and a scrap of bicou which %ve had reserved and had then cariied a hundred and twenty-eight days ; but we had arrived within one day's journey pf the old plantations at Awaruatu, where we should find potatoes, and we could afford ut length to part with our reserve. Our meal that evening of potatoes was one of the mist satisfactory that we had ever made, and with the better food our condition in a few days sensibly improved. At Ohatura, live days afterwards, our small Scotch terrier dog—wh'uh had remained wiili us the wholp of the time—scented a wild pij!, which, after following for about an hour, we brought to bay. It was ••>. large boar, and very fierce ; but while the dog, by yelping about it, engaged its attention, one of the party threw the axe at it, and struck its hsad, and another slipped a flax noose around its neck, and in half anjhour more 150 lbs. of pork were dressc d and added to the stuck of potatoes. On the sixteenth day after this we reached Nelson, after having been 105 days absent.